Ron Paul has earned - and trumpeted - the endorsements from smaller players, shall we say, in the national political scene.

There's the slew of low-level state party operatives and elected officials, of course, but then there’s his list of somewhat more colorful endorsers, including a current offensive tackle for the Cleveland Browns (Tony Pashos) and even a nephew to former Pennsylvania senator and presidential hopeful Rick Santorum.

Now, Ron Paul has racked up some of the most coveted (if a bit wacky) endorsers of all: people with the last name of Romney.

In two releases sent earlier today (Monday), the Paul campaign champions six members of the Romney clan who have endorsed his candidacy. (After an initial release touting five Romney backers, a second release noted a sixth, previously unaccounted for, Romney.) Three of those will speak as surrogates for the Paul campaign as Idaho voters go to the polls on Super Tuesday. One is “currently phone banking” at Congressman Paul’s Boise, Idaho, headquarters.

Among the group, one endorser is a second cousin once removed; two are first cousins to Romney’s father, George; one has a father who is Romney’s second cousin; one shares “common ancestry”; and there's one whose relationship to Romney is unclear beyond having the same last name.

Paul’s campaign suggests the endorsements are part of a powerful pattern: Ron Paul can win Mormon voters.

All such announcements help present Ron Paul as the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney and demonstrate that no presidential candidate has a monopoly on this crucial western states voter segment or even, for that matter, the Romney family.